


when the shippers are shipped

by DefiantDreams



Series: Fandom Boyfriends [4]
Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fans & Fandom, M/M, Multimedia, Social Media
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-14
Updated: 2017-08-14
Packaged: 2018-12-14 22:57:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,984
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11793228
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DefiantDreams/pseuds/DefiantDreams
Summary: Hi guys! @katsu-kun and I will be doing an ask night <3Ask us anything you want to know ;) (except for the ones who keep asking katsu-kun out >:( )--Officially, @viknik and @katsu-kun met on February 19, 2017. Unofficially? Viktor's been following katsu-kun across fandoms since 2010.Or: how fandom brought them life and love and brought them together.





	when the shippers are shipped

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lilyemrys](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lilyemrys/gifts).



> u will not believe how researched this was...... release dates of shows, post-soviet era, etc etc. i based most of these on my own fandom experience so yeah HAHA
> 
> this is the last installment of fandom boyfriends, and updates will be sporadic bcos of my big bang fic, and my other WIPs.

Hi guys! @katsu-kun and I will be doing an ask night (Sparkling Heart)

Ask us anything you want to know ;) (except for the ones who keep asking katsu-kun out (Angry Face))

[Me (viknik)](fake%20link) | [katsu-kun](fake%20link)

\---

 **notsafeforlife** : i’m mildly concerned

how invested ur followers r in ur personal life

 **viknik** : r u jealous because i get more propositions and u dont

 **notsafeforlife** : look vik, i post shirtless selfies

shirtless!!!! selfies!!!!

no one even knows what u look like

and yet???????

 **viknik** : maybe they like me for my personality ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯  

 **notsafeforlife** : u fkcing hoe

 **viknik** : chris

u r hurting my feelings

 **notsafeforlife** : viktor

u r hurting my ego

 ---

Anonymous said to **viknik** :

First crush on a fictional character?

 **viknik** answered:

L E G O L A S!!!!!

my dude, i think i STILL have a crush on legolas!!!! 10/10 would kiss!!!!

_#anonymous #viknik replies #yuuri pls dont look at his_

\\\

 **katsu-kun** replied to your post “First crush on a fictional character?”

> i am concerned. (you should all see the pics of bby vitya cosplaying legolas when he was 13 though, his hair was long then)
> 
>  

im sorry babe, legolas was my sexual awakening!!!!!!!

_#viknik replies #katsu-kun >legolas  #IF I HAD TO CHOOSE #pls dont make me choose #my favorite katsudon _

 

Viktor Nikiforov was ten years old the day he discovered _The Lord of The Rings_.

At 27 years old now, Viktor could barely recall what it was like in the Post-Soviet Era. When Viktor was born on December 25, 1989, the Soviet Union was on the brink of dissolution. All he can tell you now is that his parents were engineers and just barely surviving in the resulting job market and the government’s unwillingness to adjust salaries to inflation. Viktor didn’t understand it much then, and all he could remember now was the cold and the hunger that characterized each day.  The subsequent political and economic crises of the 1990s eventually culminated to the financial crash in 1998, but by 1993, Viktor’s family was already part of the 39%-49% of Russians living in poverty.

When his father came home with a book one day, Viktor clearly remembered being confused at the waste of money when they were already living day to day, just barely making ends meet. The book wasn’t even anything impressive at first sight. It was ugly, decaying, obviously brittle just from looking at the outside. The bindings were broken, and the inside wasn’t much better the first time Viktor flipped through, the pages water stained and yellowed, creased at some parts.

But inside?

Viktor found himself drawn and sucked into the world of Hobbits, Elves, and Dwarves. He didn’t know whether it was the fantasy, the adventure, or the magic that had kept him so enraptured, but at 10 years old, it had literally changed his life. For a few hours, Viktor could forget that he was cold. For a few hours, Viktor could forget that he was hungry. The Lord of the Rings was his escape, and a refuge from his hardships and his parents who were too busy working to spend time with him.

Though nothing can compare to the feeling of sleeping in a warm bed with a full belly, for a while, the world of Middle-Earth was good enough.

This was Viktor’s first foray into fandom--although he didn’t have a name for it then--surrounded by like-minded people. He was only 10, then 11, then 12, but he was accepted by the community in Russia that revolved around _The Lord of the Rings_ . People wrote songs and poetry, did live action roleplay, learned Elven languages, and wrote apocrypha (which later, Viktor will learn to call fanfiction), and Viktor was _a part of that_. He spent most of his free time drawing, trying to visualize Frodo, Sam, Legolas and the other characters. For the first time, he felt like he belonged somewhere and that there was more to life than stale bread and simply making it day by day. For the first time... Viktor Nikiforov was alive, and not just surviving.

In 2001, Viktor’s family joined the immigration wave to the United States, finally following the other scientists and engineers who had been leaving since 1991. Viktor took his suitcase filled with threadbare clothes, his mother’s hand, and his copy of _The Lord of the Rings._

 

\---

 

Anonymous said to **katsu-kun** :

fave pokemon game?

 **katsu-kun** answered:

Gold will always have a special place in my heart, right beside @peaches <3

_#asks #anon #black and white is a close second though #and pokemon dungeon was cute #peaches peaches peaches_

\\\

 **peaches** replied to your post “fave pokemon game?”

> do i still have that place in ur heart? rly? Pretty sure @viknik replaced me (Angry Face)

That is a baseless accusation and I am deeply hurt that you would even suggest something like that.

_#replies #peaches peaches peaches_

\\\

 **viknik** replied to your post “do i still have that place ur heart? rly? Pretty sure @viknik replaced…”

> I have my own space in Yuuri’s heart (Sparkling Heart)(Sparkling Heart)(Sparkling Heart)

sure you do

_#replies #viknik the slick_

 

Katsuki Yuuri was 8 years old the day his family moved to the United States in 2001, unable to keep the onsen running anymore with the lack of tourists. Armed with only basic English, his Gameboy Color, and his Pokemon games, Yuuri crossed the Pacific Ocean. Suffice to say, Yuuri was not prepared at all.

He spent his breaks alone with Pokemon Gold, not wanting to speak to anyone in fear of being mocked for his accented, disjointed English. It was fine at first. Yuuri had always been introverted. He never really had much friends in Japan too, but there was a difference between being alone by his choice, and being alone by everyone else’s choice. He was lonely, and he had no one.

And then one day, a little 6 year old sat across him during recess. His name was Phichit Chulanont, and despite Yuuri’s shyness, Phichit managed to get Yuuri to trade Pokemon with him. 8 year old Yuuri could barely believe then that anyone actually wanted to talk to him, and even now, Yuuri could barely believe that Phichit put up with him. But finally, Yuuri had someone to geek out with, talk about Pokemon and play with. Phichit ended up in his house more often than not, and the two of them would watch the cartoon together under the watchful eye of Mari-neesan. (Phichit will vehemently deny now that he had a crush on Nurse Joy, and Yuuri will tell you straight up he did).

At 23 years old, Yuuri will find an old notebook filled with their childhood scribbles on ‘Phichit and Yuuri’s Pokemon Adventures’, complete with a complex love story between Ash and Misty that honestly made sense to them at the time. They had thought that it was a great way to practice their English then, both being immigrants still unsure of the language, and it was. Yuuri will laugh at the thought of this being the first fanfiction they had ever written. Self-insert fanfiction, but still fanfiction nonetheless, even if Phichit and Yuuri at 6 and 8 didn’t quite call it that then.

They’ve come a long way since then. In the years since then and throughout their whole friendship, they’ve been through tens of fandoms together, and Pokemon games that until now, they both still play. Phichit and Yuuri didn’t share the entirety of their fandom lives together, no. They had plenty of fandoms and interests that the other simply didn’t share their interest in. But even despite that, Phichit stayed as Yuuri’s biggest supporter and beta. (And often, they managed to convert each other to their respective fandoms, even if just for a bit.)

Phichit was the first friend that Yuuri made through a ‘fandom’, but he definitely wasn’t the last.

 

\---

 

 **shemakesmeforget** said to **viknik:**

Comparison pic of your first fanart to your latest? Or a viknik through the years thing

 **viknik** answered:

Wow!!! Okay so i think you all know that my first fanarts were of LOTR, but i can’t find any papers, so sad. But!!! I went through my DA (u r welcome, it was a cringefest), and here’s 14 year old Viktor’s version of Draco Malfoy from HP, 20 year old Viktor’s Draco aaaand 27 year old Viktor’s version of Alexei from HOI!!!! (If u squint, Alexei can kind of look like Draco)

[3 pictures side by side, labelled 2003, 2010, 2017]

_#anonymous #viknik replies #my art #pls dont laugh_

\\\

 **notsafeforlife** replied to your post “Comparison pic of your first fanart to your latest? Or a viknik…”

> fictional characters with platinum blonde hair are viktor’s aesthetic, that’s why he dyes his hair :P

my hair is natural and chris is a certified LIAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

_#replies #chris is a hoe_

 

 

Although Lord of the Rings was Viktor’s first experience with a fandom community, Viktor’s first ‘official fandom’ online was Harry Potter. Viktor only really discovered at 14 that there was a whole, bigger community of people who enjoyed the same things he did online. Maybe it’s because his family didn’t have a computer until 2002, maybe it’s because he simply didn’t know.

But for whatever reason, when Viktor first moved to the States, he didn’t realize until his first week in how difficult it would be without that community. He felt like he was Frodo Baggins on the quest to Mordor, but without any of his companions, and without any of the excitement. San Francisco was big and loud, yet Viktor had never felt more alone. The only reason why Viktor had friends and the LOTR community in Russia was because he was simply introduced to it by proximity and because of his father. Viktor didn’t have that luxury in the States, and he found that not many 12 and 13 year olds had actually read the Lord of the Rings. He stopped bringing it up after a while, and simply reread his book and drew to his heart’s content.

 **_The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring_ ** was released on December 10, 2001. Viktor had felt embarrassed to dress up, but his excitement had won out. He watched it alone, his long hair straight down his back and decked in the most Elvish costume he could manage. He got lots of compliments that day, and girls even asked to touch his hair--but that didn’t even compare to being able to see the characters he had fallen in love with on the big screen.

For a few hours, Viktor felt like he was home.

It’s odd. He can recall that day perfectly, but Viktor can’t quite remember now when and how he was introduced to Harry Potter. At that time, the Goblet of Fire had been out for around a year, and it was steadily gaining popularity with Viktor’s age group. Maybe it was one of Viktor’s classmates or friends, but with his new computer, Viktor suddenly found himself smack dab in the midst of a Russian translation scandal in the Russian speaking fandom of Harry Potter. (Yes, Viktor seeked out Russian communities while he was in the United States. Can you blame him? He kind of wanted to read the Russian translation too with Cyrillic being a familiar, safe script compared to Roman letters.)

At that time, the woman hired to translate Books 2-4 of the Series had, in the opinion of the people online, translated it horribly into Russian. Only Prisoner of Azkaban didn’t receive a mock award then for poor translation or poor editing. It was a shame, a mockery of J.K. Rowling’s words and books, and fans unanimously agreed that the series deserved better. When it had gotten out that she had essentially turned the translation of Goblet of Fire into a seminar for her students to translate it themselves... It doesn’t have to be said that the scandal that erupted was enough for them to look for a new translator.

But by then, there was already a People’s Translation in the works. Russians, some of them actual translators, sharing and posting their own translations online. Some of these translations were arguably better than the actual, official translations. By 2003, Viktor found himself deeply entrenched in this community that was passionate in sharing Harry Potter despite Cease & Desist letters from representatives of J.K. Rowling. He was 14 years old then, and that was Viktor’s first experience of the impact of fandom. He couldn’t contribute to the Translation Project, so he contributed the only way he knew how.

He created a DeviantArt account that year, and he didn’t look back. (From DeviantArt, yes, but fandom? Creating fanart? No.)

 

\---

 

Anonymous said to **katsu-kun** :

any advice for new writers? :( how to be u

 **katsu-kun** answered:

jeez im nothing special haha but really!! just keep writing. i wouldn’t say im great, but ive definitely improved a bit.

i know a lot of people say to just read and write, and that’s true! when you read, take note of specific things that you like, ie: specific ways they word things, phrases, descriptions, characterization. Read meta, read tips on dialogue and pacing and everything.

_#asks #anon_

\\\

 **viknik** said to **katsu-kun** :

improved a bit???? do i need to link them to your fanfiction.net account??? or your LJ?????

 **katsu-kun** answered:

VIKTOR,,, NO!!! WE AGREED THAT WOULD BE A SECRET

_#asks #viknik the slick_

 

It took awhile before Yuuri felt confident enough to actually post his work online. There was just something about writing in his second language that made Yuuri even more nervous and anxious to share. He can’t tell you now if he would have posted his first fanfic earlier if English was his first tongue instead of Japanese. Maybe the anxiety of not being good enough would have hit him just as hard anyway.

While it took him awhile to actually post anything, Yuuri had already discovered fanfiction online by the time he was 12 years old. It was 2005, and the English dubbed version of Naruto had just been released in the United States. Naruto quickly gained popularity among Yuuri’s group of friends, and Yuuri quickly learned that the original, Japanese version had already been out for years. At 12 years old and with years of content, he couldn’t help but feel like he had missed out by not discovering it sooner.

He consumed the available content as quick as he could, and he immediately showed Phichit, Leo and Guang Hong how much better the sub was compared to the dub. Far too soon, however, Yuuri found himself caught up with the latest manga and the latest episodes of the anime, and he realized that now he had to wait for the new episodes to come out.

Starved for content, Yuuri went online once more. He discovered doujinshis, fanart, forums where people speculated on what was going to happen--and some of which were definitely not age appropriate. (But Yuuri at 12 was curious, despite his embarrassment.)

He discovered Fanfiction.Net.

Back then, Fanfiction.Net was a goldmine, filled with thousands of fanfiction. Yuuri could hardly even believe it. Even now, he finds the amount of fanfiction readily available for his viewing unbelievable.

Back then, he couldn’t say he cared much about quality. Fanfiction was fanfiction, and Yuuri consumed it all. Before he even knew it, Yuuri’s life was consumed by fanfiction. He’d read before he went to sleep. He’d read while eating. Yuuri even printed out fanfiction to read in his free time during class. A part of him was embarrassed by it, but his friends’ own foray into fanfiction only buoyed and encouraged him.

Unsurprisingly, Phichit was the first of their friends to post fanfic online. Phichit was always the one more open, the one more willing to share and expose himself to the world. Even until now, Phichit had a considerable online presence, just as he had back in the days of Livejournal.

Back then, they’d celebrate each and every comment they received. All of them were precious and dear to Phichit, and they were all proud and excited for him. Pretty soon, Guang Hong and Leo followed Phichit into the world of posting fanfic. Yuuri stayed behind, writing only for himself, and only just confident enough to share with his three friends.

Finally, at 13 years old, a year after Yuuri had discovered fanfiction, he gave in to Guang Hong’s pleas to co-write a fanfic with him. Phichit was only a little annoyed that Yuuri finally posted a fanfic because of Guang Hong and not because of him, but he got over it quickly enough.

Yuuri was actually proud of what he had written then, comforted by the fact that he wasn’t alone. Guang Hong’s pen name beside his made it easier, made the anxiety of exposing his work online to everyone easier to deal with.

Before Yuuri knew it, he was posting his first, solo fic in the world of Fanfiction.Net.

Yuuri remembered what that had felt like. The exhilaration, the constant checking of statistics and rereading reviews. The worry that people wouldn’t like what he had written stayed, of course, but it was momentarily abated by the disclaimer that him, Phichit and Guang Hong had learned to put.

**(DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO OR ANY OF IT’S CHARACTERS. ENGLISH IS NOT MY FIRST LANGUAGE. Please R &R!)**

Yuuri remembered the thrill of his first fanfic, and he couldn’t even imagine what it would feel like to post his last.

(Honestly, Yuuri doesn’t think he’d ever stop writing fanfic and have a definite ‘last’ anyway.)

 

\---

 

Anonymous said:

How did the two of you get together? Pls tell us ur love story

 

Well. We officially met in real life on February 19, 2017 (yes, I marked down the date because I’m sentimental like that), but honestly, nonny?

It started in 2010.

**Author's Note:**

> this is the intro chapter, not all the chapters will be in this format!!! regular present-tense for the next chaps, w brief social media excerpts.
> 
> ok so a lot of YOI was about Yuuri's journey of different types of love, and i wanted to emphasize on that for this fandom AU and how fandom brings you and other people together. yuuri's story here focuses on that.
> 
> viktor, on the other hand, is more personal, and how fandom is a place for u to create, inspire, be inspired and all that.
> 
> but of course, fandom is a multi-experience, and eventually, they'll experience each other's experience ;)
> 
> -thank you to sammie for reading through this ❤ much love  
> -follow me on [tumblr](https://giacomeatme.tumblr.com)


End file.
